The IT Skeptic - process

Just enough documentation of practices

skeptic — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 03:02:40 +0000

Let the people doing the work design the work. Stop patronising knowledge work professionals.

Challenge the level of ceremony in process

skeptic — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 09:09:15 +0000

Reduce the level of process and hand it to the people.

I've been involved in enough ITIL adoption efforts to know they don't all work. Mostly that is because they are done to people, not by people; and they micro manage people as clerical workers instead of empowering them as knowledge workers.

ITIL processes aren't processes

skeptic — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 21:25:37 +0000

Stuart Rance called out ITIL's dirty secret: they're not really processes. Stuart talks about how some things that ITIL calls a process are not a process.

Get out of the way

skeptic — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 22:46:57 +0000

A basic principle of DevOps is for "Necessary Non-Value Work" to get out of the way of Value Work.

In the Require-to-Deploy value stream, this NNVW includes

security
architecture

Challenging the operational rites

skeptic — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 04:01:14 +0000

Over time a strange set of rites and rituals grow up around the Require-to-Deploy value stream*. Some of them are there to protect the quality of the output but others have ceased to add value.

An ITIL process is not a unit of work

skeptic — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 04:13:11 +0000

I want to call out a key issue I see over and over again in organisations' planning of their ITSM improvement (known as Continual Service Improvement or CSI - nothing to do with police forensics). An ITIL process is not a unit of work.

Why process maturity is a useless metric for ITSM improvement

skeptic — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:27:11 +0000

Process/practice maturity is a metric that should be of little interest when deciding where to focus your improvement efforts, or for measuring the results of those efforts. And CMM process management maturity is even more useless than execution maturity.

Risk and value should be the primary metrics for planning and assessing your improvement.

The Standard+Case approach: applying Case Management to ITSM

skeptic — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:44:25 +0000

Here is an exciting new approach to categorising and resolving any sort of activity "tickets", such as requests (including incidents) on a service desk, problems, or changes. It is called Standard+Case until somebody comes up with a better name. I know there is so much to read these days, but if you have anything to do with service support or change management, read this. It'll change your year.

Standard+Case is a synthesis of our conventional "Standard" process-centric approach to responding, with Case management, a discipline well-known in some other industry sectors such as health, social work, law and policing.

S+C addresses criticisms of approaches like ITIL for being too process-centric and not allowing customers and knowledge workers to be empowered. S+C does not seek to replace or change ITIL or other theory: it expands and clarifies that theory to provide a more complete description of managing responses.

It provides a good skills path for service desk analysts that fits well with gamification. And Standard+Case is applicable to Problem Management and Change Management (and Event Management...) as well as Service Desk activities. S+C applies to anything that requires a human response: there's either a standard response or there isn't.

For more information about Standard + Case, see the Basic Service Management website.

ITIL v3 Process Maps

cmajewsk — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:01:53 +0000

Oh Great ITIL Wizard,

What do you think of these ITIL process maps. Are they worth it? It looks to me just something else to update, however, if put to actual and continual use, they could be a tremendous benefit. Especially for a company that is just starting to implement ITIL best practices...

Much appreciated,

cmajewsk

CMM is back to front

skeptic — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:04:28 +0000

I think that CMM is back to front.

What ITIL V3 means by Process

skeptic — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:31:56 +0000

Since the release of ITIL version 3 (v3) there is much “Ding! Dong! The Process is dead!” but I don’t think so. There is a burgeoning market for third-party process charts for v3. Authors are interpreting the new “v3-speak” back into the process-centric frame of reference where most users are still comfortable. We just got over the wrench away from techno-centric towards process-centric with ITIL Version 2 (v2). Many people aren’t ready for service-centric yet.

Great insights into process

skeptic — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:34:15 +0000

Today I'd like to share with you a quote from someone I consider the greatest business thinker since Drucker, greater even than the authors of Service Strategy. I am of course referring to Scott Adams.

Deming cycle diagram the wrong way round

skeptic — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:26:33 +0000

Here is an amusing thing: all those diagrams of the Deming Cycle turn the wrong way.

repeatable process

skeptic — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:46:11 +0000

Past discussions on this blog have suggested that a process fixation such as ITIL's engenders an inflexibility and ponderousness in an organisation. Whilst I am a process fan, there is an important point to be addressed here about how ITIL relates to nimbleness and adaptability.

The IT Skeptic's Unofficial List of ITIL Version 3 Processes

skeptic — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:20:26 +0000

ITIL V3 shies away from the whole concept of processes. They are avoided and obfuscated, sometimes called elements, jumbled up with functions. And most of all, the "complete" lists are all different! in an effort to get a grasp on this, here is the IT Skeptic's cross reference of them all and hence the resulting IT Skeptic's Unofficial List of ITIL Version 3 Processes (ta daaah!)

Building complex people systems

skeptic — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:53:22 +0000

When we speak of a new profession(alism), could it be that by focusing on IT we are focusing on the wrong thing?

OGC publish a useless Lifecycle Process Model for ITIL V3

skeptic — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:48:30 +0000

OGC have recently published the long-promised Lifecycle Process Model for ITIL V3. It is pretty much useless in its published state.

ITIL V3 Processes

skeptic — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:14:35 +0000

Last updated 9th February 2009

All ten processes and one function from ITIL version 2 are there in ITIL version 3. So too are a number of new process and functions: at least 13 by my count, 17 by others. My unofficial "definitive list" is here.

Technology does not fix process problems, but that's still what people want to see

skeptic — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:52:10 +0000

A lovely example of the "Someone screwed up. What are you going to buy to fix it?" mentality that plagues this industry: